Kissock's first match

[atrottel]

His performance sounded good, according to the Glasgow Mail:

Gretna manager Davie Irons was full of praise for on-loan Everton striker John Paul Kissock who was outstanding after the break and a constant menace to the Jambos defence.

He may have one of the dodgiest haircuts in the SPL but the boy can play.

Irons said: "It is a good deal for us to get Kissock on loan becausewe could never afford someone of his quality. He is out to prove to Davie Moyes he can play first-team football for Everton.

 

[Bruce Wayne]

Good stuff. Hopefully he'll come back ready to join the first team squad next year.

 

[Sharpys top lip]

Hope the lad comes on leaps an bounds while he is away. He could be a great one for the future.

 

[monty]

From what I was told the club want him to toughen up, he should do that playing in Scotland. I hope they feed him with porridge and haggis and comers back a stone heavier

 

[uknightbreed]

i willl bet my last pound that kissock will be offloaded in the summer.

i rate him , moyes on the other hand doesnt it seems.

i would have thought if kissock was in moyes plans he would have been in the last euro squad that rodwell and vidarrson were in and played.

 

[monty]

i willl bet my last pound that kissock will be offloaded in the summer.

i rate him , moyes on the other hand doesnt it seems.

i would have thought if kissock was in moyes plans he would have been in the last euro squad that rodwell and vidarrson were in and played.

UKB, most of the lads on here who go and see the reserves have great doubts about him, his size, wilingness and his strength have all been questioned,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,only time will tell but if he was going to make it here I felt that DM would have loaned him to a Championship team like Plymouth or the likes. He'll have to toughen up at Gretna, tough love in deed

 

[atrottel]

More JPK from the Herald:

John-Paul Kissock, 18 and on Everton's books, did look like a possible justification of Gretna's policy. A tricky, small Scouser with a tangled mop of hair and a superb touch, Gretna would be advised to play to his feet instead of booting the ball over his head in the vague direction of Kenny Deuchar.

Kissock, who didn't realise Gretna were bottom until he agreed to join, insisted the game was a "very good experience".

"I had 20 minutes to make a decision, I think it was the day before the window closed and the gaffer David Moyes called me into his office and asked if I wanted to come up," he said.

"I did my homework after I said yes and realised they were bottom. It's a challenge, but I believe we can stay up. I was up for the challenge and I want to try to keep Gretna in the SPL."

Kissock's style is reminiscent of a former team-mate. "I've so much respect for James McFadden. Learning off players like that every day you pick things up from them. He was such a fantastic lad, especially with shy lads like myself.

"I moved here just after James left for Birmingham and it happened so quick, I didn't really have a chance to speak to him. But I spoke to Rangers' David Weir, he said it was good league and it would be a good experience for me."

 

[monty]

More JPK from the Herald:

That intro makes him sound like an escapee from a Harry Enfield sketch

 

[TX Tiburon]

"Gretna manager Davie Irons was full of praise for on-loan Everton striker John Paul Kissock who was outstanding after the break and a constant menace to the Jambos defence."

He's a striker? The Glasgow Mail must have reporters on loan from the New York Times.

 

[atrottel]

The Times give him the next press cutting for his scrapbook:

Contacts are everything in football. The poorer you are, the more valuable they are. David Irons thought long and hard for several months before deciding to cash in on a friendship with David Moyes and ask the Everton manager if he could borrow a player from him.

The result is John-Paul Kissock, a teenager on whose slender shoulders now rests Gretna’s slim hopes of survival in the Clydesdale Bank Premier League. If the 18-year-old can live up to Moyes’s recommendation, then he could inspire the modest Borders club to stay up.

Kissock is just one of five new recruits Irons unearthed before the transfer window closed in January. The Gretna coach is hoping to mine the same rich seam of young Barclays Premier League talent that gave Bayern Munich such a scare in midweek. Irons watched on television on Thursday night as Sone Aluko and Josh Walker – both also 18 and on loan, from Birmingham City and Middlesbrough, respectively – scored the goals that gave Aberdeen a 2-2 draw in the Uefa Cup against the German club.

Today, Irons will ask his own teenage acquisitions to copy the youthful arrogance of Aluko and Walker. “Kids are not frightened by things the way older professionals are,” Irons said. “Aberdeen gave these two youngsters a chance to come and show their Premiership managers what they can do, against one of the best clubs in the world, and they did. I am hoping my young players will be fired up with the same desire to prove themselves and earn a reputation.”

...

“I felt the age profile of the side needed to come down,” Irons said. “I am really excited about Kissock and I feel he could be the player who sparks us. I phoned David Moyes, whom I played with at Dunfermline Athletic, to ask if he could loan me any players, and he suggested John-Paul. Initially, the boy took cold feet. I really had to work hard to convince him. He has been at Everton since he has was ten and is a real Scouser.

“He did not even know where Gretna is. I have had to take him under my wing a bit and make sure he is well looked after off the pitch, because he is so young. We have made him a star in our set up, and he’s loving the attention, not to mention the crowds that were at Tynecastle and Easter Road. It’s a lot compared to the 100 or so that watched Everton’s youth team. I don’t know if he is physically up to playing in the Premiership, but he can discover himself here and learn a lot.”

Irons was pushed into trawling the fringes of the English Premier League and Coca-Cola Championship squads for players because of what he sees as a lack of ambition among young Scottish players. “It is a bit of a closed shop up here, in that SPL clubs are not keen on loaning to other SPL teams,” he said. “Their younger players are not keen on coming to a small club like Gretna on loan. I failed in three attempts to get a reserve player from the Old Firm. The English lads are keener to take the challenge.”

Kissock endorsed that view. “It’s good for me coming into a side playing in one of the biggest leagues in the world and it will help me to improve as a player,” he said. “I had 20 minutes to make a decision.

“The manager [Moyes] called me into his office and asked if I wanted to go. He thought it was a really good idea that I joined Gretna so I went along with it and trusted him. I did some homework on them when I got home – after I said yes. I found out they’re nine points adrift but I still believe we can stay up.

“I’m up for the challenge because I want to try to keep Gretna in the SPL. We’ve a game in hand on Kilmarnock and I think we’ve a really good chance because we have to play them twice. If we can get within three points of them then the pressure is on them.”

 

[Namdrater]

Aluko, what a champion hes gonna be, looked brilliant for Aberdeen.

 

[scottishtoffee]

From what I was told the club want him to toughen up, he should do that playing in Scotland. I hope they feed him with porridge and haggis and comers back a stone heavier

do you guys actually think we eat that!!

never had haggis in my life an i dont intend to, sounds disgusting!


oh and your right right nam, Aluko did look good, great touch and he took his goal well. made some good runs from the midfeild.

 

[monty]

do you guys actually think we eat that!!never had haggis in my life an i dont intend to, sounds disgusting!


oh and your right right nam, Aluko did look good, great touch and he took his goal well. made some good runs from the midfeild.

Got news for you, I do haggis is superb as is porridge, both get the old bowels going but not quite like a Sayers pastie

 

[atrottel]

Mealie pudding and square sausage, that should sort him.

 

[Neiler]

Sounds like a level headed kind of Guy and moyes is certaintly aware of him and thinking of his development which bodes well for him and his long term prospects with us.